Battle Bunny

Spanish Sahara

Posted on March 6, 2010 | 1 comment

The Foals album, Antidotes, was one of my favorite albums of 2008. I’ve been anxiously awaiting their next album, Total Life Forever, which is scheduled to drop in the U.S. on May 11th so I was pretty stoked to run into this video for a new song, Spanish Sahara. I was surprised by how different it is from the dance-punk rhythms of earlier songs but not at all surprised by how much it tickled the pleasure center of my brain. The video itself is a little creepy but gorgeous and mesmerizing (as is singer Yannis Philippakis and his big brown eyes). Oh and the expansive winter landscapes completely reminded me of a Dan McCarthy painting.. like this one minus the dinosaur.

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Posted in Art, Music

Tagged Art, Dan McCarthy, Music, Spanish Sahara, The Foals, video

The Bloom Box

Posted on February 23, 2010 | 1 comment

My friend, Ashley, tossed this my direction yesterday. It’s pretty incredible. A cheap small box that produces power using natural, bio or landfill gas? Sounds too good to be true but companies like eBay, Fed Ex and Google have been testing the product which so far has delivered on its promise.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about “Bloom Box“, posted with vodpod

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Posted in Nature, Science, Animals, Earth

Tagged 60 minutes, Bloom Box, environment, green energy, power

Folkmechanipunk

Posted on February 21, 2010 | Leave a comment

It’s been a crazy week! I started a new job (which I am loving) and my little bunny friend, Squirrel, was in and out of the vet hospital and on the verge of keeling over. Finally, today, she’s back to normal and I can breath a sigh of relief. I know, I know.. I’m that strange and ridiculous ~~cat~~ bunny lady. I think I can live with that.

Today I stopped by Leia Bell’s cool little print shop, Signed and Numbered. It’s there that I discovered a new favorite artist, Dan Grzeca (pronounced Jet-sah). The Chicago-based artist creates wonderfully fluid prints that mesh the animal kingdom with human engineering. His style reminds me of playful steampunk, but without (and before) steam.. folk-mechanical-punk maybe?

You can follow his progress through his blog or purchase prints at his Etsy store. I think my favorite is the first one I posted below, There is no American Buffalo but the Black Keys set is a close second. Just fantastic.

There is no American Buffalo

Black Keys NYE/D

Blue Tiny Cowboy

The Year of the Rooster

Airlift

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Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged Airlift, Art, Black Keys, Blue Tiny Cowboy, Chicago, Dan Grzeca, Leia Bell, Prints, Ramblin', Signed and Numbered, The Year of the Rooster, There is no American Buffalo

Forever Young

Posted on February 15, 2010 | 1 comment

Turritopsis Nutricula is anything but a quitter. This little jellyfish is the only animal we know to be immortal. It spends its infant stage as a polyp then becomes a sexually mature medusa. But unlike other jellies, after it reproduces it refuses to die and instead returns back to the polyp stage through a process called transdifferentiation. This cycle can continue indefinitely; however, the animal can still succumb to disease or being eaten. I like its scientific name too.. it makes me think of a vampire triceratops (which may be my new favorite hybrid animal).

One of my little bunnies, Squirrel, is in the animal hospital tonight and I miss her dearly. If she makes it out I must remember to teach her this transdifferentiation thingamajig.

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Posted in Nature, Science, Animals, Earth

Tagged animal, Immortal, Jelly, Jellyfish, Nature, ocean, Science, Turritopsis Nutricula

2010 TED Talks!

Posted on February 12, 2010 | Leave a comment

The 2010 TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) talks started Tuesday and will continue on through tomorrow. The roster in past years has been impressive and this year’s is no different. I was stoked to see some familiar names listed, such as David Byrne, M. Ward, Sam Harris, Sarah Silverman and Michael Specter. I can’t wait to see what comes out of this year’s talks. In celebration, here is the first (and still my favorite) TED talk I ever saw.

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Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged 2010, Bonobos, Design, Entertainment, Speakers, Susan Savage-Rumbaugh, Technology, TED

T-Shirt Wars

Posted on February 11, 2010 | Leave a comment

I’m loving this stop-motion film which includes over 200 printed T-shirts. You can purchase the actual shirts at the store on Rhett and Link’s site.

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Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged Rhett and Link, Stop motion, T-Shirt

The Lil’ Mold That Could

Posted on February 10, 2010 | Leave a comment

Image by Ron Wolf via Flickr

I’m fascinated by creatures who navigate the world with a collective, rather than individual, intelligence. Slime molds are social amoebas, slithering in somewhere between being a plant and an animal. Like ants, a slime mold will send out scouts from the larger body to hunt for food, then use pheromones to relay information back. This primitive form of intelligence is effective enough that the organism can find the shortest way to food through a maze. And beyond that, they can be absolutely stunning! If I were a set designer for a fantasy movie I would totally create ginormous slime mold replicas and clump them together to make lush, plump, alien forests.

Image by Myriorama via Flickr

Image by chris10eyck via Flickr

Image by myriorama via Flickr

Image by Sea Moon via Flickr

Image by Ron Wolf via Flickr

Image by mountainamoeba via Flickr

Image by Myriorama via Flickr

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Posted in Nature, Science, Animals, Earth

Tagged flickr, myxomycetes, slime mold

Left vs Right: A View of the Political Spectrum

Posted on February 5, 2010 | Leave a comment

A couple of days ago I made a status update on Facebook in opposition to the group “Making Drug Tests Required to Get Welfare” which started a debate over whether or not the idea is (as the ACLU puts it) scientifically, fiscally, and constitutionally sound.

I’m sure my conservative friends and family see my viewpoints as naive, sinful and heathenistic while I see theirs as cold, exclusionary and based on a sense of moral superiority. Sometimes I have a really hard time finding any common ground and it feels like the chasm is too great to ever agree on solutions.

The whole thing just reminded me of an interesting chart I saw awhile back on one of my favorite sites, Information is Beautiful. It’s called Left vs Right: A View of the Political Spectrum by David McCandless and information artist Stefanie Posavec, taken from my book The Visual Miscellaneum.

Click on the image to enlarge. And FYI, counter to what you’d expect, Left is in red and Right is in blue.

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Posted in Art

Tagged Art, Chart, Information is Beautiful, Left vs Right: A View of the Political Spectrum, politics

… That Don’t Suck

Posted on February 4, 2010 | Leave a comment

Cyberoptix is a tie “lab” created and ran by Detroit artist, Bethany Shorb. I love the delicious colors and fun graphics. If you’ve gotta wear a piece of useless fabric around your neck, might as well make it art! You can purchase one of her ties on her site or at her Etsy shop for around $30-$40. She also maintains a really cool blog, Toybreaker, where she showcases new designs.